Trying to protect children from marketers, identity thieves, and predators, California could establish the nation’s toughest protections of student privacy and forbid the sale and disclosure of schools’ online student data.
Despite forceful pushback from high-tech organizations, Senate Bill 1177 passed the state legislature unanimously last month.
If signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, it would prohibit targeted ads based on school information and creating student profiles when not used for education purposes. And it would require that educational tech data be kept secure.
A tandem bill that was also approved by the legislature requires that student data managed by outside companies remain the property of school districts and in their control.
